Delhi: Trilokpuri tense but no fresh clashes reported

East Delhi's Trilokpuri area remained tense but no fresh violence was reported, police said on Sunday, a day after five people were shot at during a communal clash. A day after it witnessed riots, east Delhi’s Trilokpuri remained tense on Sunday though no new incident of violence was reported, the police said.

A day after it witnessed riots, east Delhi’s Trilokpuri remained tense on Sunday though no new incident of violence was reported, the police said.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which had been clamped down on the area, are still in force with over a thousand police and paramilitary personnel still manning the area.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) reached Ground Zero on Sunday and alleged that the riots were “planned” to polarise the society on religious lines. AAP also demanded a probe into the “role” of former BJP MLA Sunil Kumar Vaidya in this connection. Making an appeal to the people of the area, AAP told them to pay no attention to rumours being spread by “vested interests” to create discord between communities.

The police had shot at five people during a communal clash on Thursday evening, who are recuperating in various hospitals.

“The situation is better and we expect things to look up soon. We have taken precautions to keep the situation under control and are ready to contain sporadic outbursts if they occur,” Sanjay Beniwal, joint CP (eastern range) told HT.

Over 30 police vans, water cannons and riot control vehicles along with several paramilitary personnel are deployed in the Trilokpuri area.

Local residents, however, argued against the police’s confidence in the uneasy calm that continues to envelop the area.

The owner of A to Z Collection, whose showroom was gutted by fire on Saturday around 4am, claimed that the rioters used petrol to ignite his store. “We were at a wedding in Uttar Pradesh when we received a call that our shop had been set ablaze. Till the time we returned, no fire-tender or policemen had made it to the site.

We had invested our entire family savings, but now the police are not even registering an FIR,” said Israr Khan, brother of the owner.

The police have arrested 40 people for rioting since Thursday and apprehended more than 100. Many of them, the police insist, were let off after initial investigation. Following a brief period of calm, clashes had erupted again on Saturday evening.

Residents of Trilokpuri expressed anger over police action, saying that they had not caught the real accused, and were harassing innocent people. “Most people were caught from their houses. They were badly beaten up and dragged out of their houses. All of them are innocent,” a resident of Trilokpuri, Mohammad Fahim said.